Prediction: Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy“Alternate: Homeland, “From A to B and Back Again“

Full Rankings:01. Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy“
02. Homeland, “From A to B and Back Again“
03. Boardwalk Empire, “Eldorado“
04. The Knick, “Method and Madness“
05. Game of Thrones, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”

Prediction: The Last Man on Earth, “Alive in Tucson“Alternate: Veep, “Testimony“

After doing some of the program predictions, let’s shift to the acting categories this time around considering the Creative Emmy Awards ceremony is just around the corner. We’ll practice ladies first, so let’s do the funny ladies of Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. With no Orange is the New Black eligible this year, it freed up half of the slots from last year, though this year’s lineup is a combination of both old and new names.

Tina Fey has been a stable in this category the last few years, mostly for her hosting stint in Saturday Night Live. This time around, she’s finally nominated for a role in the series (albeit one she created) for her turn in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Her role as the incompetent prosecutor Marcia has been highlighted in her episode “Kimmy Goes to Court!” where we see her character mostly just reacting to the court scenes. This isn’t a bad episode per se, but more of an instant name checking considering the snubbed performances.

Gaby Hoffmann enters this year’s Emmys with a bang easily garnering two acting nominations in the comedy genre. One is for her role in the Comedy Series nominee Transparent, but her nomination here is for her role as Caroline Sackler. Submitting the season finale “Home Birth”, the title refers around Hoffmann’s character episode. When Caroline goes a month earlier into her labor, we see her scream in pain. It’s a pretty loud and showy performance — literally — considering that Hoffmann was nude in all scenes but one. Birth episodes have worked well in the past (once, even an easy way to win an Emmy), so the trend could continue with Hoffman.

Previously nominated for this role already, Emmy winner Christine Baranski got another nod for her role as Leonard’s mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadfer. In her submitted episode “The Maternal Combustion”, she visits her son though this time we’ve seen her clashing with Sheldon’s religious mother. While this role has brought Baranski two previous nominations already, she has yet to win for this one. She’s lucky though that co-star Laurie Metcalfe was snubbed since it’s hard to play the straight role against the showy ones (which hurts her chances), but maybe her overdue factor can help her with the Emmy win.

While Pamela Adlon has an Emmy under her name, it’s her first time to be recognized for her acting in Louie. In her episode “Bobby’s House”, her character, bearing the same name as her, went into a cross dressing adventure with Louie leading to a sex scene until she addressed the state of their relationship. The performance ended on a dramatic note, but the general feel of the episode paints her as an aggressive sexual woman which, not surprisingly, can garner her more votes.

In the five seasons that it has been on air, Modern Family has guested big stars from Tyne Daly to Minnie Driver and Ellen Barkin to Carol Burnett. But none of them managed to receive a nod for their work on the show. History was rewritten this year when Elizabeth Banks finally got Modern Family its first Guest Actress nomination. As the couple Cam and Mitchell’s friend Sal, we see another side of Banks’ character be more responsible than the usual in her submission “Fight or Flight.” However, she’s really lacking on the screentime in this episode only appearing in the early minutes only to come back and wrap up her storyline in the last few. I think the success of Pitch Perfect 2 paved the way for this nomination, and add the fact that Banks is well liked in the community. But I don’t think a path to win is that clear.

Lastly, for her role as Sheila Jackson, Joan Cusack receives her fifth consecutive nomination (and her second in the Comedy field). In her episode this year, the season opener “Milk of the Gods”, we find Sheila finally living with now husband Frank. However, her attention is focused on Sammi and Chuckie. Her highlighted scene in this episode is her discovery that they had sex in the living room and picking up the dildo below the sofa. Cusack has loss for far better episodes before, but then again, there isn’t anyone close to a real frontrunner here so that might work in her favor.

The only ones I don’t see winning here are Tina Fey and Elizabeth Banks. Both Joan Cusack and Christine Baranski might end up with the trophy if we’re talking about overdue in terms of nominated performances. However, I’m leaning to the two bolder performances – that of a crossdressing Pamela Adlon and a nude Gaby Hoffmann to dominate. While I won’t be surprised to see Adlon take the plum, Hoffmann’s one two punch of nominations this year is an indication of support that can lead to the win.

Today we’ll be finishing the Emmy 2014 analysis series here at Tit for Tat by doing the remaining two categories left for the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards before envelopes are opened on Monday night. And with no further ado, let’s begin with the drama programs of the past season.

When itseemed like it’s gonna go downhill from the first season, House of Cards went on and even beat their nomination tally of their previous season. While that showed potential that voters aren’t giving up on the show anytime soon, I don’t think Netflix has completely managed to pull off the win in here as well. Mad Men stays for another year and is likely to join the club of shows nominated for all their eligible seasons, but it has been back in 2011 when they still won any Emmy so at this point, it’s a filler at best. Game of Thrones was screwed by another HBO being campaigned here, and while the show’s chances would increase, the genre bias against a fantasy show is still hard to overcome, even if with overwhelming reviews. Downton Abbey might have lost Hugh Bonneville this year, but gained Joanne Froggatt back again. All it lost is a Directing nom, so if anything, I think it indicates that it will still be nominated in the succeeding years. Breaking Bad seemed a confident frontrunner all season though it doesn’t have the benefit of airing a current season during Emmy voting. Meanwhile, HBO must have too much confidence in True Detective to even consider ruining the small chance of Game of Thrones. After all, this is a now or never moment for the Emmys to reward this season. But then again, a cultural phenomenon like Breaking Bad doesn’t deserve to end with only one Drama Series Emmy in its mantle. Just like its previous cable show successor The Sopranos, the show is too big to resist to be denied of a second Drama Series; thus, I’m predicting it to win again.

And lastly, we’re now on the comedy series. Last season, when it had critics rallying around it and it continuing to be a dominating force ratings wise, The Big Bang Theory still wasn’t able to do any big moves in the race, and I think it has already peaked when it comes to its chances of winning the top plum now. Louie, in its most dramatic season, would never also find its way near to the podium so the fact that it even got nominated for such is already a feat of its own. Not only did it manage to pick up a series nod, it also swept writing and directing nods so that bodes well for Silicon Valley but this show is too alienating for a broad amount of voters to prevail. It also doesn’t help that even if its on HBO, its ratings are nothing to be proud of. Sadly, the same applies for the other HBO show Veep, though to its benefit, it has Julia Louis Dreyfus maintaining the buzz for the show and the guilds totally supporting it. Maybe it’s a slow burner? In the end, I see this as a close fight between 4x champ Modern Family and newbie series Orange is the New Black. On one hand, Modern Family lost some of its key nominations (primarily two acting nods for its ensemble), but then again, it’s still the broadest show in this line up that I don’t think it will have any problem winning for a fifth one. It also submitted its best set of tapes, so it’s really not wise to dismiss this show altogether. Stealing its thunder, however, is the new Netflix show picking up 15 nominations and winning already three. The Orange ensemble is campaigning like crazy, and despite being on Netflix, the show has done a good job of making others aware of it. While I don’t think it’s a shoo-in, it’s also helped by its second season delivering (like how Breaking Bad was helped last year) unlike other female-oriented nominated shows before. In the end, I’d give the odds to them crowning a new champ now, but I’ll be wary since Modern Family is very much still in this race.

And we’re off to the last week of our Emmy analysis coverage here at Tit for Tat. With only six remaining categories left, let’s begin analyzing the lead acting races this week and start with the comedic actors to figure out if Jim Parsons can tie that record of most number of wins in this category, or if Louis C.K can add an acting Emmy to his mantle, if Shameless‘ switch to comedy genre is fruitful, and if Matt LeBlanc be the third Friend to be an Emmy winner.

Now on his third consecutive nomination, Don Cheadle still is aiming for his first career Emmy win. This year, for House of Lies, he opted with the season opener entitled “Wreckage“, his character dealt with his company decision and his confusing romance with co-worker Jeannie. There’s a scene in the middle of the episode where he talks directly to the audience while everything else is frozen. They also touched some relationship issues between him and his son. personally speaking, I’ve don’t dig House of Lies‘ humor, but I don’t think even that will affect when I say I don’t think Cheadle is winning.

After four seasons, 2x Emmy winner William H. Macy manages to get his first ever acting nomination for Shameless, thanks to their shift from the drama to the comedy category. However, it could not have come to a more awkward season since this was the show’s most dramatic season by far. In his submission “Lazarus“, Frank adjusts from the aftermath of his liver transplant surgery. While both his daughter and his new wife battle over custody, his son takes him out to Chicago where he gave him a bottle of whiskey after learning he can’t drink anymore. This is the most dramatic episode of the bunch and a stand out literally among all these comedic fares. He also has a monologue at the end, though prior to that, there’s nothing much worthy to see in his hour-long episode.

For his fourth nod in a row, Louis C.K has submitted “Model” which is a different approach from his usual submissions. This is arguably his funniest submission by far. The first half of the episode had him doing a flop opening for Jerry Seinfeld in a charity event. While his jokes aren’t really funny, it provides the opposite effect to the viewers who find the unfortunate moment hilarious. The latter part of the episode is the more humorous one when he leaves with a model and they had the unfortunate sex incident of him accidentally punching her. While this is a competitive submission from Louis C.K, there is still an existing bias regarding the type of this comedy in this category as proven by the no Emmy acting wins for Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, and I don’t think this will change any time soon.

Since that upset win he did in 2007, Ricky Gervais is back to provide he’s no fluke, as he’s now nominated for the Netflix show Derek. He submitted the second season finale where in he tries to learn how to ride a bicycle, goes on a date, and deals with his father’s condition. In it, Gervais displays the perfect Emmy winning recipe of having range, impact, laughs, screentime, and empathy. The only con I can see his way is that if voters aren’t really digging his character or if they find the acting really off in it. That said, there’s a real possibility that he’d go 2/2 in this category this year.

At this point, 3x Emmy champ Jim Parsons probably knows that his ticket to an Emmy is by Sheldon getting drunk as proven by his two Emmy winning Emmy submissions. Does it really come in threes? Well in his episode “The Relationship Diremption“, Sheldon deals with some sort of a life crisis and attempts to change some perspectives in it unintentionally including getting drunk with Penny. We then see the after effects of such with all the crazy things he has done the night before. This follows the same prototype of his winning submissions, so it isn’t much of a stretch to say that he can be rewarded again for it.

And lastly we have Matt Leblanc in his third nomination for Episodes. In Episode 306, we witness Matt (playing himself the actor) ranting about the British invasion in Hollywood after losing a coveted role to one. This follows to him seeing a young hot girl on set and had a sexual intercourse with her only to find out who that girl was. The bit about the British invasion hits too close to home that I can see it garnering him some votes. It also helps him that there’s a Friends reference in the middle of the episode where he mentions his famous catchphrase “How you doin?” Leblanc has been nominated six times in this category now (three each for Friends and Episodes) and if voters are in a rewarding mood, then he might just luck this year.

I’ve always had a spotty record here the past few years. The one time that I predicted Jim Parsons was the year he lost to Jon Cryer. The three times that he did though, I predicted Larry David, Steve Carell, and Alec Baldwin respectively. So I highly advise you do the opposite this time around. But then again, we’re talking about a historic tying an Emmy record fourth win here, and with Big Bang Theory still having three seasons left of it, are they really rushing to give Parsons a fourth one? I’m inclined to think no; thus, I’m going with Ricky Gervais. He managed to pull off the upset in 2007, I’d say with his tape this year, he can achieve the same feat. If not him, then this somewhat weak of a category can be ripe for a Matt LeBlanc overdue upset.